Life Is Like A Commercial

Have you seen the commerical for Mastercard (I think)?  It is a simple animation of people arriving in cars to a house.  Kids are looking out the front windows.  Mom is standing at the door.  There's a lot of hustle and bustle as the visitors arrive.  Then, the door shuts, everything quietens down and as the window shades are shut the house sighs.  I felt that way Thursday evening when Matthew came in.  We were all home, safe and sound.  Sigh…

Matthew’s Coming Home

I haven't talked too much about Matthew.  He's the little guy in the avatar to your right.  He's my oldest (19 yr).  He's been away at college this semester.  He's coming home for the holidays. 

This is a bitter sweet coming home.  He'll be here for 3 weeks.  That's great.  But, he's going to move to Colorado in January.   Apparently, he's in love.  I know, I know.  It's only natural.  And yes, she's a great girl.  In fact, she's just what I've always wanted for him.  But, she is from Colorado and he wants to be close to her (go figure). 

I've always heard people talking about their kids moving off.  I didn't think it was any big deal.  After all,  we got married and moved to Florida.  But that was different.  We were more mature (yeah, right).  Now I know that this is going to be a lot harder than I ever thought. 

I've got to do this 5 more times.  Of course, we'll be so old when the little ones leave, we probably won't even know they're gone — just kidding. 

Anyway, Matthew is coming home tomorrow and we look forward to a great Christmas with him.

I’ve Fallen And I Can’t Get Up

And it really hurt.  Yesterday, I slipped on my 2 year old's shoe (that shouldn't've been on the floor in my room) and fell down, hard.  Very hard.  People my age shouldn't fall that hard.  It hurts.  All day I was in pain.  I took Advil, which helped.  I wasn't in so much pain today as much as just aching.  I guess that's what I get for not cleaning the house like I  should.

Nearing The Halfway Mark

The end of the calendar year marks the midpoint of our school year.  It's time to take stock of how things are going. 

 It seems like we are always behind.  But, tonight I was talking with the boys and the dad about school.  I realized that we weren't as behind as it seemed.  With Hurricane Rita blowing in and various other things to get put in front of school, I figured it was hopeless and we would never finish this school year.  Actually, if everything goes as planned, we will finish what I had planned at the beginning of the year around the end of May.  That's just what I wanted.

What improvements need to be made? 

1.  We need to get to bed earlier (I say that as I'm blogging at 11:15 PM).  We need to get up earlier and start school earlier.  I would love to start at 8:00, but that seems to be way to early for us.  A more reasonable time is 9:00. 

2.  We need to do better at keeping the house orderly.  This is just a constant struggle that seems to never get any better.  On those days that I get really frustrated about it, I stop and think about what it would be like if we had no children.  We would have a clean house, but it would be so lonely.  I'll take the clutter.

3.  I need to spend more individual time with the 2 and 4 year old.  They are really good at playing quietly during school time, but I really need to just play with them.  They are so sweet and growing up so fast.

4.  I need to be consistent with my 9 year old's violin and piano lessons.  He's the only one of my kids that I'm teaching right now.  It's kind of like the Cobbler's children that have no shoes.  His lessons always come last.  Thankfully he keeps working ahead in our lesson book. 

What are we doing right?

1.  We haven't let any subject fall by the wayside.  That tends to happen.  I come up with all these neat things to do and then we just forget about it them as time goes on. 

2.  If nothing else gets done, we get our reading in.  I read aloud to the kids about an hour each day.  About half of that time is spent with Bible reading.  I hope to read through the Bible this year.  It may take more than the regular school year to get it done, but that's okay.  The next half hour is spent in reading a good classic.  We read Robinson Crusoe the first part of the year  and we are now reading Swiss Family Robinson. 

3.  My 14 year old's schooling is a priority and it is getting done fairly well.  I let my oldest son work on his own at this age.  That was alright, but I really should've been there for him more.  I'm not letting this one loose.  I want to be able to answer his questions when they come up.  He's doing Biology, Latin, Alg 2.  All that fun stuff.  I used to panic when my oldest son would bring his book to me to ask a question. I didn't have a clue. 

For halfway through the year, I'm pretty satisfied.  How about you?

What’s Growing Under Your Couch?

I've had the feeling lately that something is down there.  As I sit and watch TV, I feel it. As I sit and do school with the kids, I feel it.  There's something down there waiting for me.

So, tonight I decide is the time to tackle it.  I toss off the cushions only to reveal a whole year's supply of pencils, crayons and an assortment of Duplos.  I wondered where all those went.  There was also enough popcorn to satisfy someone through an entire movie. 

Then, I proceeded to the bottom depths.  Underneath the couch.  Not brave enough to do it myself, I send my 9 year old.  He is having a ball.  Finding pieces of games that have been unplayable because the pieces were missing.  Finding all kinds of things that really need to be in the trash.  And, of all things, he finds an outlet we forgot was there. 

A few years ago, I thought it would be a good idea to buy 2 couches.  Now, I'm paying for it.  I have to do a repeat of the above with couch number 2.  Wish me luck.

More Music To A Mother’s Ear

Yesterday, I wrote about the beautiful music of children playing together.  Tonight there is a new kind of music at our house.  It is total silence.  The only sounds I hear are the refrigerator running, the tapping of the keyboard, and a truck or 2 driving down the highway.  The children are nestled all snug in their beds.  Sigh…

Oh, one more thing.  I've been tagged by heythereheather I was beginning to feel a little left out.  It seemed every blog I read had been tagged.  Because I should already be in bed, I'm limiting my comments to however many come to mind.  Here it goes:

This I want to do before I die:

1. See my children's children serving the Lord (and of course their parents)

Things I can't do

1. Paint

2. Draw

? Things that attract me to my husband

He is and was very handsome, funny and loves his family.

? Things I say most often

Just a minute

Wait a minute

In a minute

Books I love

The Bible

Charles Dickens

good historical fiction.

Movies I watch over and over

I watched Ben Hur 4 times last spring (I kept falling asleep during it).

Music To A Mother’s Ears

As I sit here at my computer, I hear it.  My favorite music. It is a beautiful sound.  It is the most reassuring sound I know.  It could be the thump, thump, thump of the basketball hitting the driveway, or the sound of roller blades, or the sound of a baseball being hit solidly by the bat. 

It is a beautiful day here in East Texas.  It looks like it might rain, but it hasn't.  There is barely a breeze, but it is cool.  Our windows are open to let in the fresh air.  Those open windows also let in my beautiful music. 

Today, the music is coming from the backyard.  The performers are 3 of my sons and their friend.  The play of choice is creating a movie.  I'm not sure what it's about.  But, it has kept my boys and their friend busy, working together, all day.  I can't wait to see it.

What is your favorite “music”?

New Location For My Bible Class Blog

I've decided to move my Bible class blog to blogger.  If you are interested in seeing my most recent lesson plans, you can see it at: http://thedowsschoolroom.blogspot.com/. 

Is My Schedule Too Tight?

We run on a pretty tight schedule around here.  I don't necessarily mean with the academics, but with every day life.  There is so much to do, and not much time to do it in.  If we vary from the norm, it knocks me all out of whack.

For instance:

I've been needing to visit my parents.  This week they moved from a distance of 2 hours away to a distance of about 14 hours away.  Don't ask me why, they just felt the need.  Anyway, I needed to go see them before they left. 

We went Monday.  The trip was great.  It was a beautiful day.  We had a great visit.  All was lovely.  But, I knew when I got back that everything that I have to do on Monday did not get done. 

The main problem was grocery shopping.  We grocery shop on Monday.  There is no other day to do it.  So, it didn't get done.  My husband very nicely offered to go for me on Tuesday during my private music lessons.  That was great, but it wasn't the same.  We've been scrounging around here all week.  I can't wait until Monday so I can go to the grocery store.